Remote learning – storytelling with four hundred students

What everyone thought was going to happen, happened.


Like most people, I am reeling from events happening at the moment. The pace and uncertainty is a real challenge for us. We are taking each day as it comes.

The news that schools were closing was both a relief and shock this week. It has left us with a quandary. The majority of our classes, this term, are working on Shakespeare. Year 10 were starting to read ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Year 8 were working on ‘Macbeth.’ Year 9 were finishing off ‘Julius Caesar.’ How do you effectively teach Shakespeare via remote learning? Answers on a postcard for that one.

Thankfully, we have some regular systems in place so I can easily transfer them to online activities. Spellings. Reading logs. Vocabulary testing. Knowledge testing. Easy. What about teaching? Well, I love thinking myself out of a problem. How can I engage with students? How can I teach students remotely and make it productive? How can I support parents at home without making it overly complicated?

Then, I came up with a solution. Interactive storytelling.

Like most, we have a homework platform. Ours is Show My Homework. So, when the news of the shutdown came. I set my first piece of homework for Year 7, 8 and 9.  This is what I sent to students:

With school being closed as of Friday, we are going to set an interactive writing task over the next few weeks. Each year group is going to work on a different interactive story. 

The story is written in parts and for each part we will pick a winner in the year group. The winner's work will be the starting point for the next part of the story. At the end of the process, we will print and publish the completed story. 

The Year 7 story is called  'A strange event'. 

Write the opening sentence to our story entitled 'A strange event'. 

* The sentence has got to hook people and raise a number of questions. 

* It should only be one sentence long - you can cheat and have two sentences, if you really need to.

*Look at the examples provided, but don't steal them. 

*Do you want the story to be told in the first person or the third person? You decide. 

Submit your opening to Show My Homework by the end of Sunday. You will get the next part of the story on Monday. 

The response has been phenomenal from students. These are some examples from Year 7:

Her life would never be the same, as she picked herself up from the rubble that she use to call home.

I was tired, I was cold, I was hungry and a long way from home.

I thought we would be safe... that it would never affect us.

The house was being swallowed by fire.

He looks just like me...



I changed the story title for different year groups.  Year 8’s story was entitled ‘The Surprise’. Here are a few examples:

She knew where they lived.

I thought it was completely normal to see voices as colours.

The operation was just about to start, the knife was nearly all the way in, but little did they know I was awake and could feel everything.

The only time I knew what to do and it was already too late.

What everyone thought was going to happen, happened.



Year 9’s story was entitled ‘The Mistake’. Here are a few examples:

It’s been months since it happened, but the image is still engraved in my mind.

They often say life is full of regrets, yet I had none...

He dropped the shovel and admired his work, as he stood beside the home made grave.

I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea.

The decision I’ve just made I now regret.

The plan now is to whittle the sentences down to one key sentence per year group. I might cheat and include a top ten of sentences. There’s just so many good ones. Then, we are going to write the next paragraph. At each stage, I intend to do some explicit teaching or guidance on writing. I might even film a video for it or two.

The next paragraph is about introducing the protagonist. I am very grateful for the writer Dan Walker for allowing me to share his opening to his novel. Students are going to look at how to introduce their character. They will, however, be continuing from the opening sentence I have selected. Here is the link to a resource I am using. 

Each new week will bring a different part of the story. We will introduce our setting, our antagonist, our complication, our crisis and resolution, but each stage is influenced by the students.  All responses written by students are small – not even 200 words. Ideally, I am working on 1 to 5 sentences. The whole purpose being the activity is teaching students about storytelling at the same time as writing a story.

We don’t know how long we are going to be closed, so I am thinking how I can expand and explore ideas. I might get to a stage where we need a subplot. Or a flashback. Or a prequel. Or a sequel. I am even thinking at a later stage we get students, at home, creating PR materials such as covers, posters, trailers, etc. Who knows where we will get to?

As I said, the response has been phenomenal. I have several submissions during the typing of this blog. I am loving the collective and interactive nature of the story telling. To be honest, I have no idea where these stories are going to go. Three separate stories. No plan. No end point. No overall structure. A scary notion, but one that’s interesting. However, we are all working together, uniting people.

Over the weeks, I will place more materials on the blog as and when I create them.

Thanks for reading,

Xris

I shot the counterargument but I didn’t shoot the argument

At the moment, I have been marking some Paper 2 mocks and the whole process is making me revise how we teach non-fiction. To be honest, I find the teaching of non-fiction really interesting. Throw a paper aeroplane out of a window – disinfect it first – and you are guaranteed to it someone with an idea about how to write a story. Do the same thing for non-fiction and you’ll get nothing.



In fairness, we teach non-fiction writing terribly. We’ll enthuse about creative writing to the extent that we will bring in sand and pebbles from the beach into lessons, just so our cherubs can find the right adjective to describe a beach. We might even play sounds of the ocean and blow in their faces so they can just get the experience right. Coffee breath and all! We might even allow Derek to eat his tuna sandwich during the lesson, because it is atmosphere building. Trish has opened all the windows to ensure the right temperature. Sharon has stolen a salt cellar and started flinging it in people’s faces. Trevor has taken it upon himself to make various bird noises until it draws the attention of SLT.



The problem with non-fiction is that we throw ideas at them. We teach students that non-fiction is about ideas and hundreds of them. That’s why when students write non-fiction they throw every idea at us. Why is smoking bad? Six paragraphs later and the students have listed four billion reasons why smoking is bad. Yes, you could teach them about Pathos / Ethos / Logos - but still they have listed a billion reasons, just with added emotion.



The problem comes with forming an argument. We tell students to list their ideas. We tell them to think of the opposite arguments. We get them to expand, list and build up arguments. We don’t get them to select, pick and identify the best argument. We don’t get them to select the one reason that is the best. That’s why non-fiction writing tends to follow the structure of:

Paragraph 1  - reason 1

Paragraph 2 – reason 2

Paragraph 3 – reason 3

Paragraph 4 – reason 4

Paragraph 5 – reason 5

Paragraph 6 – reason 6



Now, if you get students to think of opposing argument or counterargument, then you get a for argument paragraph and then an against argument paragraph. We need a cohesive argument across the whole text and that usually is achieved by building the whole piece around one reason. That reason is then developed and explored and strengthened not watered down.



Take a question from a few years ago. Parents are too overprotective. What is the one argument above all that will address this argument?



Let’s say we agree that our main argument should be:

Childhood should be about freedom and children should be carefree.

That one idea can then be a starting point. That way we can then start building up an argument rather than trying to link several disparate idea – which is what most students do.



Yes, you can go all Pathos, Ethos and Logos on me, but I’d prefer it if students look at that one argument and exploring it further. Here’s a great opportunity for classroom discussion. List as many questions about the argument.

Why should people have freedom?

What does freedom mean?

What are the benefits of children rather than adults having freedom?

Why do some people think children shouldn’t have freedom?

What does freedom look like?

Should children have complete freedom?

Does a child’s view of freedom differ to that of a parent’s?

What does a carefree child look like?  

What if I didn’t have freedom?

Why should children be carefree?    

Is my view of freedom different to others?

Do I have freedom?

Did I have freedom when I was younger?



Then, students see if they can answer some of the questions in pairs. The questions all have a natural cohesion because they all link to the same argument, but they are different facets of it.



From that point, it is easy to build and structure a coherent and cohesive argument.

Introduction: Do I have freedom?

Point 1: What does freedom mean?

Point 2: Did I have freedom when I was younger?

Point 3:  Does a child’s view of freedom differ to that of a parent’s?

Conclusion: What are the benefits of children rather than adults having freedom?



You have a stage at which you can move points and build a complete argument. You have the bones to build an argument. At this stage, you could decide that you could probably zoom on one strand and repeat the process again. I’d be tempted to go with ‘What are the benefits of children rather than adults having freedom?.   

Then, students can build up the writing and add to their framework.  If we look closer, we can see that the students are naturally demonstrating different skills and building on the one argument.



Introduction: Do I have freedom?  - Speculative writing

Point 1: What does freedom mean?- define and explain

Point 2: Did I have freedom when I was younger? – anecdotal writing

Point 3:  Does a child’s view of freedom differ to that of a parent’s? – comparative writing  

Conclusion: What are the benefits of children rather than adults having freedom? – opinion



At this point, you could bring in the heavy guns. Decide when to introduce Pathos / Ethos / Logos into the party.



How does anybody deal with an idea? I sit on it – like an egg – and wait for it to hatch. That’s what we don’t do enough with writing. We search for hundreds of eggs and then pick the best ones. Ideas need cultivating, growing, tending, caring. We don’t need hundreds of eggs. Just one. One.

Let’s get students away from listing and get them exploring one idea. Talk, of course, is brilliant for this. You don’t even need a salt cellar, a tuna sandwich, a pebble and sand to do it. It is all in their heads. Oh, and Trevor can make those bird noises in his head.



Thanks for reading. 

Xris 

Next: Sentence Hacks for Paper 2 Q5 

The Red Mushroom: talking, writing and the end of level baddie

We like reading and writing in classrooms because they are manageable, easily controlled and orderly. They are often very quiet experiences. All teachers need to do is enforce or ensure silence. A casual look. A raised eyebrow. A mention of a name. Shh, we are reading. Shh, we are writing. 


Silence has been code for success in teaching. A silent classroom means you have the class in control. A silent classroom creates security for teachers. The class is being controlled. Nothing to see here. Move along. 


The emphasis on reading and writing over talk isn’t a new thing. It’s been there for a while and as Robin John Alexander(2013) pointed out, talk isn’t viewed as real work. The problem is that talk is seen as a social thing. If I let these students talk, they will end up talking about what they did on Tik Tok or something else pointless. They will probably spend most of the time gossiping. 


Because talk is social and because it isn’t easily controlled we opt for far easier options.

What we forget is that talk is what we naturally do. What do you do if you have a problem? You talk to someone. You sound people out. You listen to the people offer solutions or their thoughts. Then, you come to a point when you can move on. You are ready. That journey, to resolve a problem, probably didn’t follow a clear structure, and, like most conversations it probably jumped from topic to topic and included the odd bit of digression. But, through talk, the problem would have been resolved partly, or fully. It was probably a bit messy, chaotic and dirty. I doubt somebody at the start of the conversation would have assigned clear roles and decided the order of speaking. Trish – you think of the problems. Sharon – you think of the consequences. There wouldn’t be a piece of sugar paper between them. In fact, most people will have played a variety of roles in the discussion.  


Working with students and boys over the years, you notice how boys like to talk and share their thoughts on things. In fact, as a boy I loved talking. I picked my university course because the idea of talking in groups about a book really appealed to me. Imagine my surprise when I arrived on the course to discover it was largely me talking in the sessions. It ended up being me and the tutor discussing things, but the verbal interrogation of an idea thrilled and enthralled me. The writing was hard, but the talk and the discussion engaged me on a level I never really knew before. I’d endlessly grapple with ideas like violence in Edward Bond’s Saved or the subtleties of emotion in Ibsen’s plays and religion’s hold on the monarchy in the Shakespeare’s history plays. 


I am not saying that every boy is a type of ‘Oliver Twist’ who goes through one oppressive experience at a time, but I do feel that boys don’t have the opportunities and the experiences to talk. We don’t give them the chance to talk.  We pigeonhole them to the point that we infer the reasons behind their behaviour. You are doing this because you are impressing your friends. You are doing this because you wanted a laugh. You are doing this because you are angry. 


We supress talk for those who need it the most: boys. We tell boys to be quiet. We tell boys to stop shouting out. We tell boys to not be so disruptive. And, here’s the rub: we suppress the one thing that will help students, particularly, boys to get better at writing. Idea forming. Problem solving. Concept exploring. All this happens with talk. We make everything in school an internalised process. Is rewriting a school’s curriculum an internalised process? Nah. I am talking to every man, and woman, under the sun about. I am testing it out. Talking. Chatting, Arguing. Persuading. Yet, for boys, we make it all an internal process. The exam is an internal process, yet the whole education system before it does not need to be.

We know that computer games are addictive and psychologists have studied what makes them so addictive. They study the idea of ‘flow’ and how people enter a state we call ‘in the zone’: a state of total engagement and enjoyment for people playing computer games or any other activity. We know boys, and girls, enjoy computer games. Lots of people assume boys like computer games because of the competitive nature of them. That stereotype is peddled in lots of areas of society. Add a game to your lesson and it will appeal to boys. Absolute rubbish. 


To create flow, there are a number of conditions needed such as relevant challenge and control of task, but one interesting condition stands out: unambiguous short-term goals. Games have a number of short goals which keeps the player in the zone. It propels them to go on. Think of Mario running along and collecting coins and picking up the occasional superpower thanks to a mushroom. Lots of short-term goals. The purpose is to get to the end of the level and avoid danger, but there are also lots of short-term goals along the way propelling the player to continue. It’s what absorbs their attention. 


Now, let’s look at Mario as an analogy for the classroom.  Is the writing / assessment a short-term goal? Or, is it the end of level baddie? In the classroom, we fixate on the end of level baddie. It is the piece of writing, the exam, the test and the big thing at the end of what you are doing. We obsess about the goal. Beating Wario. 


Boys, and I can speak with some authority as I used to be one many years ago, can be largely fixated with the end goal. The score of a match. The test. The result. They are not so interested in the steps that lead to that goal. The goal is more important than anything else. It is their priority. Their purpose. There is a fixation for the end point. A finite marker of success. That’s why they rush writing. That’s why they finish before everyone else. Or, why they struggle to start, because the fear of not reaching the goal is debilitating. It isn’t competiveness; it is goal fixation. That’s a big difference.


We need to look at challenging this goal-orientated thinking in students and help them build the sequence of goals towards an overall purpose. We need them to collect coins and mushrooms along the way. In fact, it needs to me more about the coins and mushrooms. Those short-term goals. And that’s where talk comes in. Where can we see boys, and girls, doing something successful on a daily basis? Talk. Not question and answer and memory recall, but talk. Mario could express a point really succinctly. Or, Luigi could ask a very interesting question. Even Sonic could be having a great little conversation about a complex idea with his partner Zelder. Lara could have used a lovely phrase to describe a part of the topic. That there is your short-term goal. A coin. Well done. Your step closer to flow. If Mario collected numerous coins over several lessons, he stands a better chance of beating the end of level baddie. 


Talk is the safe space in the classroom. Talk is the work in school that isn’t going to be endless criticised or judged. You can’t really tickle pink and grow green talk. It is messy, chaotic and dirty, but it has nuggets and gems of brilliance. We need to catch them being brilliant. Talk is the one area we can do that with aplomb for students. We need to catch them being brilliant at reading, writing and talking. And, we need to find a fair balance between the three elements and a simple ‘throw in a think, pair, share’ will not do.
  

In fact, catching them talking well is actually a red mushroom. It makes Mario grow and get bigger so he can easily defeat the end of level baddie. 


Thanks for reading,



Xris

Revision: Which sheet am I using, sir?

I am lucky that I am part of a trust and that we network quite effectively across the different schools. With networking comes ideas and the sharing of ideas. One particular idea I have found really useful is the concept of a lesson on a page.

The concept is spelt out in the title. A lesson on a page. You place everything on one sheet of doubled sided A3 sheet of paper. You structure the lesson on the page and place the sequence of things as you would teach it.

Exam preparation creates piles of paper. Absolute mountains of paper. Look at the yellow sheet now. Look at the pink sheet. Find the sheet we were using yesterday. It becomes death by paper.

When preparing for exams or mock exams clarity of the message disappears. You might lose the message because part of it relates to Part A and a part of it relates to Part B. Clarity of message is paramount in the build up to the exams. What do students need to know and remember for the exam? What are the key bits they need to recall for the exam?

The lesson on a page is great because it works to make the message clear. One sheet for one question. That then becomes a resource for revision. Students have one clear resource for revision. We overwhelm students with paper resources to the point they don’t know where to start with revision. This sheet is their starting point and then if they need more support they have other materials they can use.

Recently, we have been preparing students for their mock exam. In the run up to the exam, our preparation time was considerably reduced with the sheets and simply we were working on a question a lesson.   Attached here are all the sheets used. It was based on one of the SAM papers.

We have weeks –gulp – left with the Year 11s and every lesson will count and I think clarity, especially on the language papers will help the students. The English exams contain so many questions and, to be fair, each one has a different focus and structure. We are looking at 8 different questions. Then, add literature and you are looking 5 more questions. There’s a total, for AQA, of 13 different questions with their own approach / strategy to achieving success. Is it any wonder students get them confused? When we have 13 different elements, we jump from one set of skills and knowledge to another quickly.  For students, the questions blur into one. That’s why students throw techniques into the summary question and then forget methods in the comparison question. If we as teachers are clear, then the students will be clear about what they need to do. We need to build structures in our teaching that support and build clarity.  



Now, where’s that sheet of paper I was looking for?



Thanks for reading



Xris